Flexible Degree Programmes

It is our aim to foster our students' curiosity for the ancient world, to help them become ambassadors of our discipline as well as of our University, and to inspire them with a life-long passion for learning. At the same time, however, we also wish to provide our students with an education that will enable them to be successful in an ever-evolving world.

We believe that the study of foreign civilisations, remote from us in time, space, language, culture, and mindset, is a particularly useful vehicle for that: our students need to be able to develop empathy and interpretative skills, to become inquisitive and resistant to face value, and to understand the impact of preconceptions and paradigms on our judgement of the objects of our study. All of these skills will allow students of Classics to stand out among their peers and to be a valuable asset to the job market of the future.

Our aims and ideas are fully reflected in the design of our highly competitive and flexible degree programmes, and our external examiners have regularly praised the variety and breadth of our provision. The success of our aims is reflected in the great variety of third-year dissertations that our students choose to undertake; this aspect of our students' ambitions has also been noted by our external examiners.

In short, our curriculum is

• highly flexible

• highly relevant

• directly conducive to a career due to embedded skills

Core modules: the backbone of our curriculum

All our degree programmes ­- full-time and part-time, single honours and joint honours - are administed in a modular form. Our modules involve a selection of (compulsory) core modules and options. A full-time student in our department will typically take six modules per year.

Our core modules ensure that all our students leave us with an excellent foundation in their discipline, enabling them e. g. to pursue postgraduate study.

Our portfolio of core modules:

	Ancient History	Classical Studies	Classics
Part 1	Fifth-century Athens Augustan Rome	Fifth-century Athens Augustan Rome	Latin Greek
Part 2 (*)	Greek History Roman History Themes and Issues in History	Ancient Epic Ancient Drama Ancient Persuasion	Latin Greek
Part 3	Dissertation	Dissertation	Latin Greek Dissertation

(*) At Part 2 joint-honours students get to choose two out of three cores from either side (but may take the third core as an option, of course).

Options: giving life and variety to the student experience

In addition to the (compulsory) core modules, our students get to choose from a wide range of options, reflecting the research interests and strengths of the department.

The provision of optional modules is subject to minor changes every year (according to staff availability). However, to allow for a balanced portfolio, the selection in each year will always comprise traditional as well as highly innovative and non-traditional subjects. Students are thus invited to explore the ancient world with us in all its rich diversity.

In recent years the choice of options included the following courses (arranged by themes):

• Exploring the boundaries of the Classical world (across time and space):

• Macedon
• Greece and Egypt
• Anatolia and the Aegean
• Carthage and Greece
• Classics and Empire

• Exploring the realities of the ancient world

• Text and Object: the History of Greek and Roman Writing
• Greek Religion
• Greek Sculpture and Art
• Ancient Painting
• Greek Political Thought
• Greeks and the Natural World
• Roman Cities
• Rich and Poor in the Ancient World
• Alcohol Consumption in the Ancient World
• Ancient Technology

• Ancient literatures and their afterlife

• Greek and Roman Comedy
• Greek Historiography
• Roman Epic
• Ancient Biography
• Receptions of Homer
• Vitruvius

• The languages of classical antiquity

• Latin
• Greek

Want to go that extra mile?

In addition to that, our students may choose to pursue modules outside the Department (e.g. in Archaeology, History, History of Art, Philosophy, English, Law) - including modules in Museum Studies and Entrepreneurship, specifically designed to equip our students with the perfect set of skills for a successful career after University.

Read more about the student experience in Classics at Reading

Further information about us and your Classics degree courses at Reading can be found on these pages:

• Proven student satisfaction and teaching excellence
• Excellent opportunities and facilities
• Enhanced employability
• Meet our staff and find out about their research interests